Play It Again

Rating:
Summary: Affluent detective moans the truth about celebrity
Review: Bogart's first novel about fame, fortune and the misery of being the child of celebrity parents is witty and colorful. The most interesting character is the female reporter that he warns himself not to fall in love with, she's a radical feminist and well, he's never had one of those before. R.J. Brooks and his secretary have a snappy yet somehow flat repartee that shows his true character: lazy, spoiled, self-indulgent and not concerned with the feelings of the people around him. Although the character is drawn from Stephen Bogart's own life and his parents' movies, the book moves slowly unless you know the artist and can hear him talking. I doubt Mr. Bogart has ever been to the opera, owned a red tabby cat or dated a feminist. I doubt that these were original ideas. I doubt that R.J. Brooks, as portrayed, would have figured-out the crime without more adventures. Sometimes it seems that Bogart was being paid by the word. The momentum builds in the final scene when the writer seems to slip away from some pre-programmed tape recording. He should stick with what he knows. I don't think he's a natural to write fiction, however, if he would like to share his own life glossed over as fiction, he'd do better intriguing us with that. He can be, in person, a natural wit and this is not evident in the character of R.J. Brooks. The you're gonna take it and you're gonna like it works well for him in person, yet needs stronger descriptions in the book to come alive.